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Last year I wrote an article for this very site, saying that what the FFA Cup needed most was a giant-killing act, similar to what many football fans of my generation were brought up on watching the English FA Cup.
Well, our version has delivered in two consecutive nights, in amazing circumstances.
On Tuesday, Green Gully, from the Victorian NPL, a club who had a brief 80s flirtation with the National Soccer League, knocked out the A-League’s Central Coast Mariners. They did so via a stunning 40-metre strike from Liam Boland in the 92nd minute of the match.
It was a goal that deserved to be repeated and admired all round the world, except Danny Choi from Blacktown City had already made headlines with his utterly outrageous 70-metre effort in Match Day One. How much of this long-range madness can we bear?
It was a shock victory, no doubt, but lurking in the backs of the mind of the cynical fan was the belief that the Mariners were ripe for this. They are coming off the back of an awful A-League season, and there has been only a lip-service transformation of Tony Walmsley’s squad thus far.
And so the next night, up stepped Redlands United.
Some fans might justifiably ask “who?” if they are not familiar with the Queensland NPL. Redlands were formed way back in 1918, but only emerged as a force in Queensland’s top tier in 2010 after a merger with Redlands City.
Without doubt, the visit of the reigning A-League champions Adelaide United to Perry Park for the Round of 32 Cup clash was the biggest game in the club’s history. What they did with that opportunity will live on in the club folklore for years to come, as they defeated the best club in the country 2-1 in an absolute thriller.
Here was cup history writ large. Adelaide were comfortably heading towards a 1-0 victory when a shocking mix-up between goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic and defender Tarik Elrich allowed Redlands midfielder Michael Lee to walk the ball into an empty net deep into injury time. The goal sent the match, which till then had been largely formulaic of part-timers against full-time pros, into extra time, and it became a classic.
Redlands scored again in the 8th minute of extra time, Lee managing to harass the Adelaide defence into turning the ball over right on the by line. He passed to substitute Tyler Bradley-Combe, whose first involvement in the game was to set up Paul O’Brien for a shot that rifled into the bottom corner of the net.
From that point it was purist cup football, as Redlands desperately defended their goal, repelling wave after wave of Adelaide attacks. The A-League champions threw everything at their opponents, with defender Jordan Elsey almost camped out in the Redlands penalty area as the match entered its last five minutes.
It was edge-of-the-couch stuff for neutrals watching at home and dreamland for the Redlands fans at Perry Park. When the final whistle blew and Redlands had courageously hung on, it signalled not just a mighty upset, but a coming-of-age for the FFA Cup.
The concept of the FFA Cup has been almost universally welcomed as a way of uniting the vast football family and shining the spotlight on the part-time clubs whose trail-blazing history is a part of the very fabric of the game in Australia.
It is unique to football. No other sport in the country has a competition where grassroots clubs and semi-professional or amateur players get the chance to pit their skills against the game’s elite.
However, there was the concern that the gulf between the various State Leagues and the A-League would lead to score blow-outs and lopsided games that might stifle ongoing interest.
Instead, the football community has been reacquainted with famous old names such as Marconi, Sydney United, Melbourne Knights and Adelaide City (who let’s not forget were the first State League club to defeat an A-League opponent).
It has also been introduced to new names, such as Floreat Athena, Surfer’s Paradise Apollo and Lambton Jaffas. Thanks to Green Gully and Redlands United, we now have another ingredient – genuine cup upsets.
There will only be a maximum of five A-League clubs in the Round of 16, which will be reduced to four if Wollongong Wolves upset Sydney FC next week.
Included in the final 16 are Blacktown City, Bonnyrigg White Eagles, Green Gully, Bentleigh Greens and Redlands United so perhaps clubs should start re-naming themselves after colours.
Though with TV cameras travelling to all kinds of suburban and rural destinations to cover the cup, there’s already enough colour in sport’s newest and most unique competition.
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